PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior Travis Bouscaren totaled 10 goals on the day as No. 14-ranked Brown University men’s water polo defeated Iona College, 9-5, and fell to St. Francis College Brooklyn in overtime, 13-12, at home in the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
In a pair of Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) games, the Bears topped the Gaels with a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter before falling to the Terriers in extra time despite another fourth-quarter rally. Brown maintained its position in third place in the NWPC standings with the results.
“We’re missing two really important players in Armen Deirmenjian and Santiago Nunez, and they definitely are a big part of our offense and make us a better team,” said Brown head coach Felix Mercado. “St. Francis is a very good team, but we battled and came back from two goals down. We had a chance to win at the end but just missed the cage. These are all fixable problems.”
Bouscaren scored a career-high seven goals against St. Francis and netted a hat trick against Iona. Sophomore goalkeeper Riad Hallal made 14 saves against the Terriers, and freshman goalie Ugo Piovan stopped 12 shots against the Gaels.
“There is no easy path to a championship, and we know that,” Mercado said. “I love my team, and I know that we will get better. We gave up some uncharacteristic goals and have to clean up our defense a little bit. Whether we won or lost these games, our goal and our mindset has not changed. We’ll learn from these lessons and be ready for next week.”
Against Iona, Bouscaren scored three goals and Piovan made 12 saves as Brown picked up a win.
With the score tied at 5-5 in the fourth quarter, the Bears outscored the Gaels, 4-0, over the contest’s final seven minutes.
Bouscaren led Brown with his hat trick while six other Bears scored one goal apiece. Brown’s other goal scorers included senior Spencer Carroll, junior James Thygesen, sophomore Adam Fuller and freshmen Niko Bhatia, Andrew Penner and Matt Simko.
Sophomore Aidan Reilly paced the Bears with four assists while Carroll, Thygesen, junior Hudson Rawlings and freshman Stephen Salle each dished out one assist. Reilly and Rawlings led the hosts with three steals apiece.
In the cage, Piovan stopped three shots in each period to compile his dozen saves.
Brown opened the game with a 4-0 lead. In the first quarter, Thygesen scored on the power play off a feed from Carroll before Bouscaren netted a goal on the inside off a feed from Salle to give Brown a 2-0 edge at the end of one.
Opening the second quarter, Simko scored on the inside off a Reilly assist prior to Bhatia posting a goal on the counter off a feed from Rawlings. The Gaels registered the half’s final two markers as Brown led 4-2 at halftime.
Penner initiated the second half’s scoring, finding the back of the net from two meters off a pass from Thygesen and giving Brown a 5-2 advantage. Iona responded with a 3-0 run, knotting the score at 5-5 with 7:15 to play in the fourth quarter.
Brown answered with a 4-0 run to close the game. Carroll started the burst with a skip shot from the right wing. Fuller followed with a 6-on-5 goal, and Bouscaren netted a goal from beyond five meters to push Brown ahead 8-5 with 3:28 to go. Reilly assisted on all three goals to start the streak before Bouscaren concluded the contest’s scoring with a 5-meter penalty shot with 1:55 on the clock.
The Bears swept the regular season series from Iona as Brown previously topped the Gaels, 15-9, on September 30.
Facing St. Francis Brooklyn in the late game, Bouscaren scored a career-high seven goals, but the Bears fell to the Terriers in overtime.
Facing a 10-8 deficit entering the fourth quarter, the Bears outscored the Terriers, 4-2, in the final frame of regulation to force overtime before the visitors netted the only goal of the bonus sessions.
Bouscaren scored four goals in the second half, including the game-tying goal with 49 seconds left in regulation, while adding two assists and two ejections drawn.
Rawlings totaled two goals, three assists, four steals and five ejections drawn. Thygesen posted a goal and four assists.
Fuller and Salle both netted one goal apiece, while Carroll chipped in an assist, two steals and two field blocks.
In goal, Hallal made 14 saves, including nine stops between the fourth quarter and overtime, and tacked on two steals.
The Bears opened the game with a 3-1 lead less than three minutes into the contest as Bouscaren netted a pair of goals and Rawlings added another tally. Fuller scored off a rebound to keep Brown ahead 4-2 before a 5-meter penalty shot from St. Francis brought the visitors within 4-3 at the end of the first quarter.
After the Terriers evened the score at 4-4 early in the second quarter, a no-look goal from Bouscaren off a feed from Rawlings pushed the Bears back into the lead at 5-4. The two sides stood tied at 5-5 at halftime.
A pair of goals from Bouscaren on either side of another 5-meter penalty goal from St. Francis gave Brown a 7-6 advantage with 5:24 to go in the third quarter. The Terriers then used a 3-0 run to claim a 9-7 edge. A goal from Thygesen helped keep Brown within 10-8 heading to the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back goals to open the final frame of regulation from Salle and Bouscaren knotted the score at 10-10 with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter. A goal from Rawlings tied the score at 11-11 at the 4:13 mark, and an equalizer from Bouscaren brought the score to 12-12 with 49 seconds left in regulation. Brown nearly took the lead at the end of regulation as a shot from Thygesen went off the crossbar on the Bears’ final possession of the fourth quarter.
Following a scoreless first overtime period, St. Francis netted the only goal of overtime with 1:00 left in the second extra stanza. The Terriers took the regular season series from the Bears, 2-0, as St. Francis topped Brown, 12-10, on September 29.
Release courtesy Brown University Athletics Communications
